How can we strengthen the capacity of overseas territories to produce, transmit and adapt to food and climate vulnerabilities? The third meeting of the "Territories in Practice" cycle, organized within the framework of the CORÉOM program, brought together the experiences of Mayotte, Reunion, French Guiana and their regional partners around agroecology and food sovereignty.
Hosted by Julien Bavière, from the EEDD 976 Network in Mayotte, The meeting chose to approach agroecology not as a simple matter of agricultural techniques, but as a gateway to understanding the relationships between soils, biodiversity, climate, food, consumption and transmission of knowledge.
From the outset, the words chosen by the participants to characterize the theme set the tone: autonomy, resilience, biodiversity, sustainable development, innovation. These concepts remind us that agroecology concerns not only producers, but more broadly all those who participate, directly or indirectly, in the food system.
Different experiences, one common goal: strengthening the capacities of territories
Three experiments were conducted to test these questions in the field.
À Mayotte, THE Rural center of excellence It develops an approach that combines agriculture, the promotion of local plants, processing, laboratory work, agritourism, and knowledge transfer. Support for producers doesn't stop at cultivation: product analysis and formulation, packaging, marketing, and even opening farms to the public all contribute to building new local value chains.
Experience also shows the importance of transforming technical expertise into an accessible resource. Laboratories, gardens, welcoming school groups, and discovery activities can all become platforms for sharing knowledge between professionals, young people, and residents.
À Reunion Island, FORMA'TERRA Meanwhile, it is integrating agroecological experimentation into a regional training and cooperation network. With the Coconi Digital Public Space (EPN) in Mayotte, the institution co-leads the REAP AAOI – Network of Professional Agricultural Establishments of Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean, which brings together 95 partners spread across Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, Rodrigues, South Africa, Mozambique, Mayotte and Reunion Island.
Student and trainer mobility, exchange of practices, experimentation on farms, training engineering: the network makes it possible to turn partner territories into genuine learning spaces.
Observing agricultural systems in southern Madagascar that are already facing very limited water availability allows us, for example, to view the future of agriculture in Réunion from a different perspective. Cooperation then becomes a tool for anticipating future needs. learn from territories that today face constraints that may become common tomorrow.
«"Success lies in networking, exchange, and sharing knowledge."»
From French Guiana to Brazil: circulating forest knowledge
The third experiment led from the Guyana in Amapá, Brazil.
Since 2018, the program Knowledge of the forest supports initiatives that link biodiversity, agricultural practices, and community-driven knowledge transmission. With SAF Transamazonia, Supported within the framework of CORÉOM, this dynamic has spread on both sides of the Oyapock around agroforestry and syntropic agriculture.
Experimental plots, training, and exchanges connect farmers, young people, agricultural institutions, and communities. This experience reminds us that innovation doesn't only come from laboratories: local knowledge and practices developed over generations also constitute a resource for imagining agricultural systems adapted to the realities of the Amazon.
Cooperation here allows for the acceleration of knowledge sharing, but also for its application in new contexts. The goal is not to replicate a model exactly, but to...’experiment, adapt and transmit.
From innovation to practical application: building bridges
Through testimonies and discussions with participants, a common observation gradually emerged: knowledge and initiatives already exist in large numbers in the territories.
Experienced farmers, training establishments, laboratories, associations, researchers, public systems or family knowledge each have some of the necessary resources.
The main challenge often lies in the interfaces.
How can an innovation be disseminated from research to implementation? How can technical knowledge be made accessible to a producer? How can agricultural know-how be transmitted when existing resources are primarily written in French, while some knowledge is passed down orally in local languages? How can experimentation be linked to training, and then to an economically viable activity?
Contributions from participants from Mayotte and Guadeloupe highlighted the importance of developing more diverse transmission formats: demonstrations on plots, videos, local languages, peer exchanges or on-the-job training.
The question is therefore no longer solely «"What do we know?"», but rather: How can we transform this knowledge into the capacity for action?
Food sovereignty is not only about what happens in the fields
The discussions also encourage us to move beyond a vision of food sovereignty reduced to the volume of locally produced food.
Producing more is important, but the experiments presented show that other links are just as crucial: access to land and water, seeds and inputs, processing, packaging, marketing, training and skills transfer.
Economic viability is also a condition for the transition. An agroecological practice can only be sustainably adopted if it also allows the producer to make a living from their activity.
Agritourism in Mayotte, economic experimentation in Reunion Island, reflection on the structuring of agroecological sectors in French Guiana: the projects are gradually linking environmental performance, economic activity and territorial development.
Making territories spaces for mutual learning
This third meeting finally revealed a potential that transcends each of the experiences presented: that of a learning community between overseas territories and neighboring countries.
During the workshop, actors from French Guiana, Reunion Island, Guadeloupe and Mayotte spontaneously identified common practices, shared contacts and considered new relationships, particularly around syntropic agriculture.
This dynamic is reminiscent of one of the core principles of CORÉOM: regional cooperation is not just a means of implementing international projects. It can become a way to’learn faster, share trials and errors, and collectively strengthen the adaptive capacity of territories.
A document to extend the discussions
The summary document of the third workshop «"Territories in practice"» goes into detail about the three experiences presented, the contributions of the participants and the main lessons learned from the discussions.
It also proposes common benchmarks around four key issues: better define and share agroecological approaches, organize the circulation of innovation, structure the sectors around producers and strengthen the exchange of practices between overseas territories and regional partners.